OTL Blog sold to CanWest
In an attempt to diversify its media holdings and reach a new, more socially aware public, CanWest Global Communications Corporation has purchased several internet sites, blogs and forums deemed until recently to be too small-scale for a large media corporation to even be interested in. This online publication, the OTL Blog, is one of them.
“Let’s face it,” said Canwest Global CEO Leonard Asper in a press conference yesterday, “our audience is aging and those who will replace them are fed up with traditional media and are turning to the internet.”
CanWest CEO Leonard Asper announcing purchase of this blog and other internet properties yesterday
Asper doesn’t feel that the canada.com network or the online versions of his company’s traditional media holdings, which include the Global television network and newspapers like the Montreal Gazette, are up to the task of attracting the new, socially aware audiences that advertisers covet. Instead, the company has opted to simply purchase new media that attracts them already.
Readers of this blog who have grow accustomed to its more, dare we say, radical spin on current events and the arts have nothing to fear. CanWest assures surfers that the content style of all purchased publications will remain unchanged.
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“We don’t want to upset the apple cart,” joked Asper, “we’ll leave that to the writers! It is very important to us that the new web properties we acquired retain their cool, after all, that’s why people read them.”
What maintaining cool means for this blog in particular is that lamer elements will be pushed to the background to allow more hip and fashionable elements to have their moment in the sun. For example, we are in the process of re-editing the post about the anti police brutality march to include a couple of paragraphs about the stylish military fatigues worn by the cops and where you can purchase them yourself!
We’re also going to be altering some of the language used to make things cooler. The term repression, for example, is clichéd. Instead, we’ll be talking about radical or extreme cop actions and rate the police officer’s athletic ability in what’s going to be called the Teargass Throwing Olympics!
Also, instead of drab posts about feminists burying apples or arguing about abortion rights, we’re going to focus on some of the hotties in the crowd and give away a cosmetics kit (courtesy of L’Oreale) to the sexiest chick we find at each demonstration!
Some of our regular writers may not be happy with these changes, but they will be happy with their paychecks. Some readers may say that we’ve gone too far, but that’s what happens when you push the envelope, baby! Isn’t that, after all, what radicalism is all about?
Asper, it seems, would agree and is excited about his company’s purchase of this and other publications. He summed up his views on this venture and concluded the press conference with two words:
“APRIL FOOLS!!!”
